1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of processes for hydrolyzing Group IVB metal chlorides including titanium chloride (TiCl.sub.4), zirconium chloride (ZrCl.sub.4) and hafnium chloride (HfCl.sub.4). It is particularly useful in hydrolyzing zirconium chloride, often spoken of as zirconium tetrachloride, and will be described principally in this context.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Zirconium tetrachloride has been converted to zirconium oxychloride (ZrOCl.sub.2.8H.sub.2 O) in the laboratory by simply pouring water into a breaker of ZrCl.sub.4. However, the water tends to form dense agglomerates at the points of contact, leaving unreacted material where there is no contact. The result is a hard mass containing unreacted material. Moreover, the reaction is violent involving considerable heat, hydrochloride acid fumes, and zirconium chloride dust.
Although many different processes have been tried, none have been used commercially for one reason or another such as low concentration of HCl recovered and corrosion problems for materials used in plant construction.